Global EditionASIA 中文双语Français
Culture
Home / Culture / Film and TV

Sharing secrets of success

By Xu Fan | China Daily | Updated: 2017-12-14 09:20
Share
Share - WeChat
Main cast members of the film (from left) Chen Chusheng, Leehom Wang, Zhang Ziyi, Huang Xiaoming and Chang Chen attend a promotional event in Beijing on Dec 6. [Photo provided to China Daily]

The movie's director, Li, a best-selling novelist, who graduated from New York University, is known for writing youth-themed tales, such as Don't Cry at 17 and Heaven Eternal, Earth Everlasting.

While the former was made into a top-rated 10-episode television drama, starring Hao Lei and Li Chen in 1997, the latter was made into a film which was shortlisted for the 22nd Tokyo International Film Festival's competition sector in 2009.

The latest film, which had a budget of 100 million yuan ($15.1 million), is Li's second directorial feature. And, to prepare for the film, Li collected more than 110,000 photos over a 14-month period.

Also, the crew went to Southwest China's Yunnan province to build a 10,000-square-meter film set to bring to life the National Southwest Associated University, the provisional, wartime college co-founded by Peking University, Tsinghua University and Nankai University from 1938 to 1946.

Meanwhile, Zhang, who is yet to watch the completed film, says she can't wait for it.

"As parts of the movie were shot around five years ago. I believe the director will re-edit most of the scenes," she says.

Zhang, who shot to fame with Zhang Yimou's The Road Home (1999), first grabbed attention in the West for Ang Lee's Oscar-winning Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000).

Later, in 2004, she received acclaim for the martial arts thriller House of Flying Daggers, followed by more praise for Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai's 2046, which won her the best actress honor at the Hong Kong Film Awards in 2005.

Her rise was meteoric. And, at her young age when most young Chinese actresses were still seeking major roles in domestic movies, Zhang was already working in Hollywood.

Her role of a poor girl-turned-celebrated geisha in Rob Marshall's 2005 epic drama Memoirs of a Geisha made her the first Chinese to earn a best actress nomination at the Golden Globes.

Most Popular
Top
BACK TO THE TOP
English
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US